ROAMIN'
CATHOLIC

ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
June 2004

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MOST HOLY TRINITY, SAN JOSE

Lounge Liturgy

For the Third Sunday of Easter I attended the 5:30 p.m. vigil Mass at the Jesuit-staffed Most Holy Trinity parish in San Jose. The parish's website boasts "professional liturgist and presiders, contracted musicians, faith-sharing groups. Emphasis on unity." Though the vigil Mass was billed as an English Mass, many of the parts were multi-lingual.

The church was wider than it was long; chairs without kneelers replaced pews. There were no missalettes. The soft sound of running water could be heard circulating in the baptismal font. The only image I noticed was that of Our Lady of Guadalupe, behind the altar. The reservation chapel off to the side concealed the tabernacle from view.

The music team for the Mass comprised a pianist and a tambourine-wielding cantoress. She temporarily went into lounge-act-mode and bantered with anyone attending the parish for the first time, or anyone having a birthday or anniversary in the month of April. A few people were willing to play along.

We were then asked to stand and greet one another. The mostly Filipino congregation looked around, making little effort to greet anyone, while the music team began the first of a series of songs by Marty Haugen, "Song of Fire and Water." The first verse goes, "we are fire and water, we are symbol and sign of grace, we are the mystery, we are the image of God's own face" -- each verse using the pronoun "we" at least once.

Ten plain-clothed lay persons processed in, followed by the white vested Father Tom Schwartz, a Jesuit from Santa Clara University. There were no altar servers, nor was there a processional cross. Father greeted us in a thick German accent.

The priest killed two birds with one stone by combining the sprinkling rite with the "Glory to God." The singer accented every beat of the chorus with her tambourine, relenting only at the verses. The priest shared the burden of sprinkling the congregation by delegating two-thirds of the job to a lay man and woman -- the three of them sprinkling only their portion of the congregation. The rite ended with a dramatic tambourine shake.

Father Schwartz began his sermon asking the rhetorical question, "do you want to become a saint?" The priest highlighted Mary Magdalen and Peter as examples to us. When Jesus helped Mary when she was in trouble, they began to love and care for each other -- and Magdalen followed Him without straying. "But the reality is that our relationship with Jesus is more complex, more formed from our own sinfulness, like Peter's." Father pointed out that when Jesus asked Peter, "do you love me," Jesus was asking the same question of all of us. Jesus continues to ask us and to tell us what he wants from us, which is to live the life of a saint. If there was hope for St Peter, then there is hope for the rest of us. The priest then gave several scriptural examples of how Peter is a "symbol of unity of all those who follow Christ."

We renewed our baptismal vows, including the rejection of sin and Satan, then sang the response to the prayer of the faithful in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

At the offertory, the music team sang Haugen's "We Walk By Faith." Teenagers took charge of the collection baskets, as people were asked to come forward with their contributions. The man next to me gave me his money to put in the collection basket for him. After the collection, Father took one of the money baskets and held it in the air, presumably to bless it. Then the baskets were placed off to the side, the ushers bowed in sync to the altar, and dispersed.

The "gospel" sounding arrangement of the "Holy Holy" by Bob Hurd might have tempted people to sway if it were not for the fact that they were at Mass. All stood during the Eucharistic prayer. Father genuflected after the consecration, while some people bowed. We sang an upbeat Caribbean-sounding call-and-response, "Christ has died," in four languages. Soft piano music continued during the second half of the Eucahristic prayer.

A man next to me made an attempt to hold my hand for the Our Father. He failed. He didn't try to shake my hand at the kiss of peace.

We sang a call-and-response "Lamb of God" in English and Vietnamese.

Father exited alone out the side of the church, and, as the Church quickly emptied, I went searching for the tabernacle.

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